Community & Business
30 August, 2021
50 years of butchering
Pittsworth’s Rob Ashton is celebrating 50 years of being a butcher this month, and he is still just as passionate about his career as the day he started.
Looking for a better option than attending school, Mr Ashton began butchering at just 15-years-old, starting his apprenticeship with Tom Aldridge in August 1971.
Four years later, in August 1975, he finished his apprenticeship and later purchased the business off Mr Aldridge in January 1977, resulting in the birth of what’s now known as Ashton’s Butchery.
Not long after purchasing the butchery, Mr Ashton’s first apprentice, Darryl, started working for him, and 44 years later you can still find him working at the butcher shop.
When Mr Ashton first purchased the business, the shop was located next door to its current location, where it remained until August 2002 when Ashtons moved to where they are now.
Over the years, Ashton’s Butchery has grown into an extremely successful business, having won many awards, including two national awards and approximately four or five state awards for their specialty sausages.
The business also won the award for best butcher shop in Queensland in 2009 - an achievement worth recognising.
Mr Ashton’s business success was further reinforced when they branched out in 2006 and opened a shop in Dalby.
He also purchased an abattoir in Millmerran in 2018.
When reflecting on his time as a butcher and the work he’s done to get where he is today, Mr Ashton said it is passion and wanting to do a good job that gives him the drive to keep going.
He prides himself on giving his customers the full paddock to plate experience, with most of the meat they sell being produced on their own farm just outside of Pittsworth.
Looking back on the last 50 years, Mr Ashton said they have been pretty easy, but the next 50 years might be slightly more challenging.
Ashton’s Butchery is now one of the longest standing businesses in Pittsworth, and there’s no sign of it going anywhere anytime soon, with Mr Ashton’s two sons set to take over the shop when the time comes.
